1st Reading of 2023 - A Promised Land - Barack Obama

 To start the year with inspiration and some politics, I listen to Barack Obama's book "A Promised Land", especially in a year that started polirized in many instances with the annyversary of the January 6th invasion of the Capitol, the war in Ukraine and also the elections in Brazil, with the storm of the esplanade by Bolsonaro's supporters asking for military intervention, a threat to democracy. I felt motivated to read Obama's book because I like byographies and I wanted some political inspiration. I was scared at first by the lenghth of the book, so I decided to listen to the audiobook while multitasling. 

I was impressed with how smart, effective and charismatic he really was. I already liked him, but after reading this book I was sure that he was the best president of the United States if not of the world in History. His ideals are simply the right thing to do. He prioritizes inclusion, equality, democracy and above all, safety. An extent part of the book is him explaining abou his diplomatic international policies. He was always travelling and meeting with leaders around the world, trying to get everyone on the same page in terms of solving crisis and building peace. He explain many ofhis accomplishments, from the Obama Care to the capture of Osama Bin Laden. It is very interesting, especially hearing from him, on his own voice, because most of the things that we hear and read are media sources, that are inevitably biases. But with his book, in his own voice, it sounds like the only truth. It's very inspiring. I recommend the reading!

Title: A Promised Land

Author: Barack Obama

Pages: 754

Year: 2020

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Promised-Land-Barack-Obama/dp/1524763160

50 Books List - 2022

It's done!

Here is my list of 50 Books read in 2022! It was a very productive year. In fact, I read more than 70 books including the guides and textbooks from school. There were many "pearls" this year, life changing books such as Avery Breyer's personal finance books, Rob Greenfield's "Dude Making a Difference" and "Shoe Dog by Phil Knight". Check out what I wrote about each of them on the posts! Looking forward to the 2023 list!

1 - The Science of Money - Brian Tracy

2 - Get it done now! - Brian Tracy

3 - 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires - Brian Tracy

4 - 21 Great Ways to Get the Job You Really Want - Brian Tracy

5 - Maximum Achievement - Brian Tracy

6 - HBR 10 Must Reads - For CEOs - Harvard Business Review

7 - Extraordinary Outcomes - Iris Firstenberg

8 - Serendipity - Chirstian Busch

9 - Stop doing what you should - Whitney K Blaine

10 - HBR 10 Must Reads On Boards - Harvard Business Review

11 - HBR 10 must reads on Managing Risk - Harvard Business Review

12 - HBR 10 Must reads on Change Mgmt - Harvard Business Review

13 - HBR 10 Must reads on Business Model Innovation - Harvard Business Review

14 - HBR 10 Must Reads on Women and Leadership - Harvard Business Review

15 - HBR 10 Must Reads on Diversity - Harvard Business Review

16 - The Power of Charm - Brian Tracy

17 - HBR 10 Must Reads in a Downturn - Harvard Business Review

18 - HBR 10 Must reads on Career Resilience - Harvard Business Review

19 - HBR 10 must reads on Public Speaking and Presenting - Harvard Business Review

20 - HBR 10 must reads on Sales - Harvard Business Review

21 - The Psychology of Selling - Brian Tracy

22 - The Science of Influence - Brian Tracy

23 - HBR 10 must reads for CEOS - Harvard Business Review

24 - Make more money - Brian Tracy

25 - Storytelling - Janis Forman

26 - The Spanx Story - Charlie Wetzel

27 - HBR Guide for business writing - Harvard Business Review

28 - Shoe Dog - Philk Knight

29 - Dude Making A difference - Rob Greenfield

30 - Daymond John - brand within 

31 - Daymond John - Display of Power

32 - Daymond John - Rise and Grind

33 - Daymond John - The Power of Broke 

34 - Speak Up and Succeed - Nace rosen 

35 - 51 Rules - sandler 

36 - 49 Rules sandler 

37 - Beyond Coffee - Jeff Beshara

38 - Daymond John - Powershift 

39 - How to make better decisions - Damon Zahariades

40 - Invisible Bridges - John Ullmen

41 - Successful Profile Korn Ferry - Lestern Korn

42 - Excuses Be Gone - Wayne Dyer 

43 - Change your thoughts Change your Life - wayne Dyer 

44 - How to be a no limit person - wayne dyer 

45 - The No-Spend Challenge Guide - Jen Smith 

46 - The Responsible Company - Yvon Chouinard

47 - Let my people go surfing - Yvon Chouinard

48 - Meal Plan on a Budget - Jen Smith

49 - Pay off your debt in 21 days - Jen Smith

50 - Dave ramsey's complete guide to money

[BONUS] 51 - Speak with Impact - Shapira

[BONUS] 52 - How to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck - Avery Breyer

[BONUS] 53 - How to be debt free - Avery Breyer

[BONUS] 54 - How to Raise your Credit Score - Avery Breyer

[BONUS] 55 - Turn your computer into a Money Machine - Avery Breyer

50/50-2022) Avery Breyer - How to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck + How to Raise Your Credit Score + Turn Your Computer Into A Money Machine

 To close the list of 50 books read in 2022 with a golden key: Avery Breyer

Okay, I read a few more than 50 books last year, BUT, I will write about them later little by little. For now, these last three pearls, still on the subject of personal finances, were the cherry on the top of the cake. I was researching ways to make money remotely from home using the computer and I landed on Avery's book called "Turn Your Computer into a Money Machine". To be honest, I found this book on pdfdrive.com and I downloaded the pdf and read it in one sit. Her language is so convincing, clear and motivating that I decided to read her other books, so I got an account on Kindle Unlimited AGAIN just to read her other books. She is a very good professional writer, I simply love her writing and it motivated me to change a lot of things in my life, starting by training to become a writer, just like her! With the book "Turn your Computer into a Money Machine", I learned about SEO Writing, which is something I never realized that was something that someone could make money off. But it makes total sense, right? Because we are always reading articles online with hints on doing something that you don't know how to do but want to do it yourself, like painting your own room, getting rid of raccoons, or even managing money! Guess what? Someone is writing those articles! No, it's not AI; yet, it's a very smart, capable, trained human being behind that screen. And they make money out of it! Because website owners want to create content for their website, so they can promote or sell something. I decided that this could be a good opportunity for me, because I want to become a writer, and I have a certificate in Digital Marketing from UCLA where I took a course in Analytics and all these stuff so I know a thing or two about SEO. Avery Breyer has a blog full of useful information if you are interested in becoming an SEO Writer: averybreyer.com . She also has a course for learning how to become an SEO Writer and how to Rapid Write. I recommend for those wanting to venture though this journey.

 

 https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Your-Computer-Money-Machine-ebook/dp/B0185Z29LY/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1YATEZCLB8V0E&keywords=avery+breyer&qid=1673038646&s=books&sprefix=avery+breye%2Cstripbooks%2C341&sr=1-2

Now the other books about money management. I'm pretty sure that she realized that this is a very popular topic that a lot of people do not know much about, so her books are the perfect solution for this people. People like me! Yes, as I mention in my previous posts about the other personal finance books, I was interested in techniques to make extra money and pay of debt and save money because I need to figure out how to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for my MBA, so I've been reading everything I can to understand how to generate more money and pay off debt. I read her book "How to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck" and it helped me keep motivated and disciplined on how to pay off debt fast. Avery provides even some tools and spreadsheets to build a budget and calculate your total debt and interest rates and methods to pay off different types of debt, like credit cards, car loans, installment accounts etc. It is very well explained, step by step, very detailed for the most lay person to understand. Again, if you are interested in paying off debt fast, or learning how to deal with different types of debt, even mortgage and student loans, check this out!

   

https://www.amazon.com/How-Debt-Free-repayment-mortgages-ebook/dp/B01MTO37EB/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1YATEZCLB8V0E&keywords=avery+breyer&qid=1673038646&s=books&sprefix=avery+breye%2Cstripbooks%2C341&sr=1-5

Finally, the book "How to Raise Your Credit Score" was definitely the most directly useful for me, because I need to raise my credit score fast to prepare to ask for financial aid for my Master's. The book explains exactly how the credit score is calculated, what weight more or less, and how to start a credit score and keep it high. She provides also techniques to manage your debt, like the "Debt Destroyer Spreadsheet" and she sends an email newsletter with more hints and some secret interviews from people who paid off thousands of dollars of debt in a short time or who used SEO Writing as a form of extra income to pay off the debt. These books are very inspiring and they were exactly the push that I needed to start 2023 set to reach my goal of paying off my debt and saving money to start my MBA in the United States!

https://www.amazon.com/How-Raise-Your-Credit-Score-ebook/dp/B00Y2OR2H4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1YATEZCLB8V0E&keywords=avery+breyer&qid=1673038646&s=books&sprefix=avery+breye%2Cstripbooks%2C341&sr=1-3

47/50-2022) Dave Ramsey's Complete Guide To Money

 I have heard about this book before, but I haven't had the chance to read it yet. On Jen Smith's books, the ones that I just posted about, she references Dave Ramsey's multiple times, so I decided to order the book at UCLA Library. The book sat there for some time because it is large book full of technical jargon, but I gave it a try. And I don't regret it at all. It's almost a Finance textbook, explaining literally everything a regular citizen should know about personal finances, from credit cards to 401k's and more. It is a really good book to have to check from time to time when you need some financial advice. I read the whole thing, but a good part of the book does not apply for me yet, for example mortgages or life insurance, but very soon it will be useful for me, that is why it is good to have this book around to consult when you need to clear out some doubts you may have about finances. It is very interesting. He also has other books and even a course called Financial Freedom seminar. I haven't tried those yet, but eventually I will. Let me share here the 7 Baby Steps for Financial Freedom that Ramsey’s explains on the book and helped me with my finances and may help you too:

BABY STEP 1 – Save $1,000 to start an emergency fund

BABY STEP 2 – Pay off all debt using the debt snowball method

BABY STEP 3 – Save 3 to 6 months of expenses for emergencies

BABY STEP 4 – Invest 15% of your household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement funds

BABY STEP 5 – Save for your children’s college fund

BABY STEP 6 – Pay off your home early

BABY STEP 7 – Build wealth and give

Title: Dave Ramsey's Complete Guide To Money

Author: Dave Ramsey

Pages: 331

Year: 2012

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Dave-Ramseys-Complete-Guide-Money/dp/1937077209

44/50-2022) Jen Smith - Pay Off Your Debt for Good + The No Spending Challenge + Meal Plan On A Budget

 After living in Los Angeles for four years and paying for school, housing, food and transportation, as an international, you must either be rich or super smart not to have any debt. Well, that was not my case. I got dragged by the seduction of credit cards and loans in America, accumulating a little fat of debt. I was confused about the credit score thing, so I decided to research about it and I got to these book from Jen Smith on Kindle Unlimited. Jen Smith is a blogger who writes about personal finances and a best-selling book author. Her books are more like a guide on how to build a budget, avoid expenses and pay-off debt. 

I read her book called "Pay Off your debt for Good" a little reluctant, because I knew there would be no magic formula to eliminate debt instantly, but I was surprised with some of the tools she offered to build a budget and techniques to pay off debt little by little. The most important for me was the motivation that the books gave me stay disciplined to pay off the debt. Like she says in the book: you need to look the debt in the eye and admit that it exists and not feel embarrassed or ashamed because of it. There are thousands of other people in the same situation, and there are ways to pay off the debt quickly and for good. Most of all, my conclusion was like debt is like "fat", you need to cut on your consumption to eliminate it little by little, there is no magic formula, it's pure discipline and self-control. 

The "No Spending Challenge" book is more on the side of having a budget, sticking to it and living frugally without spending on useless things. The author suggests to prefer solutions that are free or very low cost, like cooking at home, going out to free places like the park, staying home, making handmade gifts instead of spending money. If you are having problems with debt or want to reduce your expenses or save money for a bigger project, these books can give you some tools and motivation to make that happen.

Jen Smith: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jen-Smith/author/B077CVB6RJ?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

43/50 - 2022) Let My People Go Surfing - Yvon Chouinard

 I learned about Patagonia at a course at UCLA Extension called Strategic Social Impact with Prof. Misha Kouzeh. In one of the classes about companies purpose and practices, Patagonia came up as one of the companies doing a lot for the environment and that caught my attention. I never had any favorite apparel brand, but Patagonia became mine after all I learned about them. I even bought a couple of shirt at their historic store in San Francisco near the fisherman’s' wharf. There was where I saw this book for the first time. I thought it was so interesting a clothing store selling books. Since I love books, that store became my favorite one instantly. 

But I didn’t buy the book at that time right away. I had spent my whole budget with the shirts so I didn't want to spend more, and I was already reading many other books, most on my Kindle and on the iPad, so I didn't want to get another one. I only got back to this book when I enrolled in another class with Misha, Global Business Practices in Sustainability. Then was when I searched for this book at the UCLA Library when I had access to their system and I was borrowing all the books I could from them since they had everything there, and if not they could order from another linked library at the U.S. University network. In fact, I got this book at the Young Research Library (YRL) on campus, one of the coolest library at UCLA, behind only of the Rosenfeld Library / Management library. 

Anyway, I read almost the whole book in two days going to the library. It's not a large book, there are a lot of pictures and everything, the pages are thick like a magazine, it's a beautiful book, it worth it buying it. It is similar to the previous one I posted here about the "Responsible Company" about Patagonia, but more personal about Chouinard's life. It is like his biography. He tells his story from when he came from Canada driving with his whole family, and how they liked to train falcons to hunt small rodents and everything and how he grew up in the nature playing outside in the open air. That was why he created Patagonia, when he was practicing climbing and he wanted to create equipment that would not damage the rocks. Soon enough the word got out and he was selling a lot and he had to hire his friends and family to grow the business. After that, they started selling clothes and the rest is history. 

Title: Let My People Go Surfing

Author: Yvon Chouinard

Year: 2016

Pages: 270

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Let-My-People-Go-Surfing-audiobook/dp/B01KB9LY6I/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=let+my+people+go+surfing&qid=1672868983&s=books&sprefix=let+my+people+%2Cstripbooks%2C545&sr=1-1

42/50-2022) The Responsible Company - Yvon Chouinard

 The Responsible Company is a book about Patagonia, written by its founder Yvon Chouinard. It talks a little about the company's history, how they started as a company selling equipment for climbing and how they grew from there to become of the top apparel brands in the U.S. especially in California. Chouinard has a purpose of preserving the nature and no causing a negative impact with human activity. He had this idea because most of his life he was in the nature practicing sports, travelling and living outside. When he started practicing climbing, he wanted to create equipment that would not leave marks on the rocks, that was when he came with Patagonia. 

The company grew because of its purporse and the quality and the purpose of the products. Patagonia clothes are supposed to last for the whole life. Any damanges to the clothes can be fixed at their store or by mail and they will send it back to you almost brand new. The purpose is to reduce waste and the use of resources from the nature and carbon and greenhourse effect gases emissions. Patagonia also got involved in many other causes environmentaly related, such as organizing a petition to prevent the construction of an usine by the river in Ventura and other cases around the world.

But Choinard does not talk only about the company's purpose for the nature, but also for its people, their workforce. Patagonia was the pioneer in many labor practices, such as, paternal leave, day care, paid vacations, etc. There's a legend that says that when there are good waves in Ventura, working is optional at the Patagonia office. No wonder why Patagonia has been on the top of the ranks of best companies to work for. This book works as a guideline and model for other companies that want be like Patagonia in terms of purpose and doing the right things for people and the planet.

Title: The Responsible Company: What We've Learned From Patagonia's First 40 Years

Author: Yvon Chouinard

Year: 2012

Pages: 160

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Responsible-Company-Learned-Patagonias-First/dp/0980122783

41/50-2022) The Serendipity Mindset - Christian Busch

 The situation in which I found out about this book and author was pure luck and serendipity. The same situation when I met Rob Greenfield, the guy from the book "Dude Making a Difference" that I wrote about here already. That same day of the UCLA TED Talk, that one that I hadn't bought the tickets and tried to get in when I was passing by the auditorium, yes, that one. I wasn't planning to go there, but I ended up going, and it literally changed my life, at least the way I think about a series of things. 

Christian Busch's talk was the opening one, it was very interesting. He talked with his wife and how they ended up together for pure luck. And that's the thing about serendipity; it's when things work out right though unpredicted ways. The book explains scientifically how it works. All the connections in our brains, and all the statistics and probabilities involved, such as the chance that someone in your classroom was born on the same date as you, and how it happens frequently. These type of low probability situations happen more frequently than we expect, that is why you must be ready for when they happen to take the most advantage of it. 

Title: The Serendipity Mindset - The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck

Author: Christian Busch

Year: 2020

Pages: 384

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Serendipity-Mindset-Science-Creating-Good-ebook/dp/B0818ZH58R/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13VHXFMW55TAR&keywords=serendipity+busch&qid=1672865316&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=serendipity+busch%2Caps%2C258&sr=8-1

40/50-2022) Wayne Dyer - Audiobooks

 I like also audiobooks, I listen to them while driving or sometimes doing chores at home. As I mentioned before, my favorite author, especially for audiobooks is @Brian Tracy I learned about Wayne Dyer in the book about the Spanx story with Sarah Blankley. She said that when she was in college, before she became a succesful business woman, she used to drive around listening to Wayne Dyer tapes in her car, even when she was driving her friends. Well, if it worked for her, it may work for other people too. So I gave it a try. But instead of the tapes, I downloaded the audio books.

The first one I listened was called "How to be a no-limit person", the one recommended by Sarah Blankley. I liked the books, they were very inspirational. It was not was pushy and almost agressive as Brian Tracy with his sales advices, but they were more on the line of the "Taoism" which is an Asian doctrine about searching for your inner peace. The other books were even more filled with taoistic concepts. It was good for me to feel motivated and less anxious, you know, breath deep, think in the now and forget about the problems of the past and the future. I used to listen to these books while driving, and listneing to Dr. Dyer's low strong voice was calming and relaxing, good to go though the heavy L.A. traffic at the interstates. I recommend: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Wayne-W.-Dyer/author/B000AQ104Y?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

 

37/50-2022) The Success Profile - Lestern Korn

 The Success Profile is more like a report than a book, but it is very interesting. I got this one also from the list of UCLA Anderson faculty authors: https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-authors . It was not actually writen by a faculty, but it was written by the owner of the Korn Ferry company that provides profile analyses for executives and hire high rank executives for big companies. They analyzed some cohorts of the Executive Program at UCLA Anderson Executive Education for some years to arrive to the results showed in this book.

The book shows all the statistics about theses executives: age range, field of work, income, age after they reached their first million, when they became financially independent, lenghth of education, etc. I was surprised with some of the statistics, they are very optmistic actually, depending on your point of view. For example, I guess that the age in whitch most of the executive reached a six figure salary was about 32 to 35. I recommend this book if you are interested in Executive Education, Business Schools, MBAs etc.

Title: The Success Profile

Author: Lestern Korn

Year: 1988

Pages: 287

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Success-Profile-Leading-Headhunter-Tells/dp/0671552635?ref_=ast_sto_dp

36/50-2022) Invisible Bridges: Building Professional Relationships For Results - John Ullmen

 Invisible Bridges is one of the boks in the list by UCLA Anderson School of Management faculty. I found about it on the Anderson website, that section with the list of books by their faculty, found here: https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-authors . I ordered this book on Amazon or the UCLA library, I am not sure right now, but I only started reading it when I realized that  Prof. Ullmen also taught at the UCLA Anderson Executive Education, where I was working last year. I ran one of his sessions as Program Manager on zoom, that was when I got familiar with the topic he taught on communications and networking and leadership, that is why I decided to give a try to this book. 

I was surprised when I started reading the book and I noticed that it was written in a "fabule" format, with speaking animals living and thinking as humans. It is about a beaver I guess who needs to cut a big tree to stop the river or build a bridge to cross the river and run awat from a fire. The beaver had many animal friends, like an eagle, a rabbit, horse, etc, and he only met them because he had a dream to fly, so he started asking the animals around who could help him fly. That was how he ended up making many friends, who helped him build the bridge to rn away from the fire and save all the animals. 

The moral of the story is about networking. Networking is not only about selling yourself and finding jobs. For me, networking is about making friends. introducing people to other people so they can also have more friends and benefit from a large circle of friends. Because only your friends will truly be available for you when you need. It doesn't need to be on a personal level, but professional, but still, people on your network should not only be names on a list or "weak and strong laces" but true friends that you will be willing to help with something and that can help you and you need.

Title: Invisible Bridges

Author: John Ullmen

Pages: 120

Year: 2009

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Bridges-Ullmen-Ph-D-Melissa/dp/1425706177

35/50-2022) How to Make Better Decisions: by Damon Zahariades

 This is another one of the books written by Damon Zahariades that I read recently. This one is new, he launched it in 2021 and I acquired it at the pre-launch. It is included in the Kindle Unlimited plan if you have one, or you can get it on Kindle for abour $3. Damon Zahariades writes in a guideline style, like a blog post, very direct and objective, the reading is very fluid and easy to follow and go page after page without problem. You can finish it in one weekend if you read a couple of hours a day. 

This book brings an updated topic on decision making process. Nowadays, with all the distractions, short atention span, so much informaiton available and so much to do, people tend to get overwhelmed and paralyzed when it's time o make a decision, whether it is an important decision or just what you are going to wear or eat today. Zahariades provides some tips on how to set a system to make decisions so you don't sabotage yourself and do not waste too much time thinking or going back and forth in your mind about what to do next. What stood out for me from this book was the PROS and CONS methods, very easy to apply and another technique he provided that I still think about when making a decision or when someone asks me for advice, it's something like this: if the decision will affect your life in the next hour, such as where to have lunch, you shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to decide; if the decision will affect your life in the next month, you shouldn't take more than three days to decide; if the decision will affect your life in the next year; you shouldn't take more than one month the decide; and son on. The conclusion is to use the tools available and give it some rational thought about it before making the decision but sticking to your decision after it is made.

Title: How to Make Better Decisions: 14 Smart Tactics for Curbing Your Biases, Managing Your Emotions, And Making Fearless Decisions in Every Area of Your Life!

Author: Damon Zahariades 

Pages: 248

Year: 2021

Link: https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Better-Decisions-Managing-ebook/dp/B099NW4T6L